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Agenda

At ROSEN, we comprehend that asset care is much more than a simple inspection. We know it is a comprehensive understanding of an asset’s current and predicted condition. We realize that to ensure sustainable, safe, efficient and reliable operation, action is required. Ultimately, the goal of asset care is to prevent failures and incidents.

That is why ROSEN created the Pipeline Integrity Framework, a systematic approach derived from industry best practices that increases operational safety and efficiency while supporting cost reduction by taking a value-chain approach.

This holistic approach considers not only pipeline inspection but also the integrity management of pipelines. Collecting inspection data is an important part of understanding an asset’s condition. However, collecting the data is only half the battle. Proper reporting and analysis along with further assessments of the data are important to properly use the data and extract the most valuable information from it. ROSEN’s approach does not rely solely on the most sophisticated technology; instead, it suggests an added-value approach to ensure that objectives and needs are understood.

From March 15 to 18, 2021, the PTC will take place in a fully virtual format. ROSEN will participate as the Diamond Sponsor presenting the Pipeline Integrity Framework to the industry. During the virtual technology showcase, our experts will be available to connect with you and talk about our integrity management solutions. Over the course of the virtual conference, we will present four papers highlighting a wide range of pipeline integrity solutions ranging from the transition to hydrogen to pipeline data analytics. Please find more information about the topics we will present below.

H2 READINESS ASSURANCE

The Energy Transition, in particular the focus on hydrogen, will have an impact on how we manage our (converted) pipelines. Many operators are currently in the initial stages of investigating possibilities to convert natural gas pipelines into hydrogen. This new challenge requires industry cooperation, which is why it is considered in the Pipeline Integrity Framework. The first step in determining whether pipelines are “hydrogen ready” is covered in the left part of the Pipeline Integrity Framework, including inspection technology selection.

Learn more and join our paper:

Existing Pipeline Materials and the Transition to Hydrogen
Presenter: Neil Gallon (ROSEN Group)
Co-authors: Lauren Guest, Roy van Elteren (ROSEN Group)

INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT PLAN

As part of the Pipeline Integrity Framework, the Integrity Management Plan serves as the basis for future investments and prioritization of activities to maintain and operate assets in a safe and reliable manner. This requires a good understanding of the prevalence of, for example, corrosion in pipelines in order to take proactive measures and mitigation that influence investment decisions.

Learn more and join our paper:

A Population-based Study on the Prevalence of Corrosion in Pipelines
Presenter: Érika Santana (ROSEN Group)
Co-authors: Roland Palmer-Jones, Michael Smith,
Matthew Capewell, Jonathan Martin, Konstantinos Pesinis (ROSEN Group)

TARGETED FIELD VERIFICATION

Post-in-line inspection (ILI) excavations are an essential tool in the integrity arsenal to validate and verify the performance of an ILI tool and provide additional data that can be incorporated into post-ILI integrity assessments. In addition to supporting ILI, dig verification can also be used to validate material properties, increase confidence in feature characterization and even replace previously lost records that are vital for assessing the integrity of features identified by ILI.

Learn more and join our paper:

Advances in In-Field ILI Indication and Material Verification
Presenters: Tom Oldfield, Neil Gallon (ROSEN Group),
Co-authors: Phill Robson, David Baglin (ROSEN Group)

Data Management

With aging assets as an industry challenge, gathering, storing and utilizing available data about these assets is becoming increasingly important for developing appropriate maintenance strategies for safe operations. Together with recent advances in data analytics, supported by the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning, we are more capable of tracking the status of our pipelines than ever before.

Learn more and join our paper:

Data Analytics for Tracking the Deterioration of Pipelines
Presenters: Michael Smith, Matthew Capewell (ROSEN Group)
Co-author: Konstantinos Pesinis (ROSEN Group)

Tech Talks - Pipeline Integrity Framework Series - Recordings

Agenda

Tuesday, March 16

03:30 PM

Advances in In-Field ILI Indication and Material Verification

Presenters: Tom Oldfield, Neil Gallon (ROSEN Group), Co-authors: Phill Robson, David Baglin (ROSEN Group)

Post in-line inspection (ILI) digs are essential tools in the integrity arsenal to help validate and verify ILI tool performance and provide additional data, which can be input into post-ILI integrity assessments. In addition to supporting ILI, digs also have standalone benefits. Dig verification can be utilized to validate material properties, increase confidence in feature characterization or even replace previously lost records vital for assessing the integrity of features identified by ILI.

Historically, to either fully characterize ILI features and/or verify line pipe material properties, the only viable option was to destructively remove sections for destructive testing/examination. This had obvious disadvantages; however, as technology has developed, more advanced non-destructive methods have become available. These can provide accurate data without having to remove affected sections.

Recently a number of new technologies have become available for NDT sizing and characterization of features, including PAUT, TFM, XCT and laser scanning. There are also various technologies that can characterize unknown line pipe material properties, such as Instrumented Indentation Technology (IIT). An unfortunate consequence of this proliferation of new technologies is that they often require the expertise of a number of different 3rd parties. This can lead to organizational challenges and even multiple dig campaigns.

This paper reviews a number of new and emerging technologies, as well as established techniques for the in-field, non-destructive characterization of ILI features and line pipe material property verification, and it analyses the benefits and potential limitations in using them. In addition, the paper also looks at current ROSEN in-field processes, which allow for full ILI indication verification and material property verification to be performed at the same time, by the same team of technicians.

03:30 PM

A Population-Based Study on the Prevalence of Corrosion in Pipelines

Presenter: Érika Santana (ROSEN Group), Co-authors: Roland Palmer-Jones, Michael Smith, Matthew Capewell, Jonathan Martin, Konstantinos Pesinis (ROSEN Group)

It is estimated that the global transmission network spans over 3 million kilometers in length, and that half of the constituent pipelines have already surpassed their original design life. This infrastructure is expected to remain operational almost indefinitely, acting as a major enabler for the energy transition by continuing to transport hydrocarbons, as well as hydrogen, biofuels and CO2.

The transport and containment capabilities of aged pipelines can be impaired by damage accumulation through time‑dependent mechanisms, with nucleation and progression rates affected by multiple factors, ranging from design and construction to environment and service, varying along a pipeline length and service life. As difficult as they might be to manage through the spans of space and time involved, the influence of these tangible factors is well‑discussed in technical literature and addressed in Integrity Management and Regulatory Frameworks already in place.

Less often discussed is the influence of intangible factors, which can indirectly affect the condition of pipelines. The importance of competence in the management of critical assets has already been noted, but the influence of broad social, cultural and economic factors remains unexplored.

This paper intends to initiate a discussion of the theme. Using corrosion “prevalence” as a representation of pipeline condition, a cross-sectional analysis was conducted on data from over 6,700 inspected pipelines (29 million individual pipe joints) within 80 national and 503 private pipeline networks and over 100 million metal loss features.

Significant disparities were observed between networks in geographical locations of different socioeconomic backgrounds. The magnitude and replicability of such divergences suggest the influence of socioeconomic – and other intangible – factors is worthy of further exploration. Insights derived from such studies could be used to support the creation of evidence-based regulations and policies that will optimize the availability of these critical assets for future generations.

Wednesday, March 17

09:00 AM

Existing Pipeline Materials and the Transition to Hydrogen

Presenter: Neil Gallon (ROSEN Group), Co-authors: Lauren Guest, Roy van Elteren (ROSEN Group)

The climate emergency is one of the biggest challenges humanity must face in the 21st century. We all need to be involved in the process of moving towards a decarbonized economy. At the same time, the advancing global energy transition faces many challenges when it comes to ensuring a sustainable, reliable and affordable energy supply. For this reason, gas will continue to play an important role in the future energy system. An emphasis on decarbonizing the existing gas infrastructure will inevitably lead to greater penetration of greener fuels, such as hydrogen, ultimately produced from renewable energy. While the replacement of natural gas with hydrogen and the introduction of hydrogen into modern natural gas transmission and distribution networks creates challenges, there is nothing new or inherently impossible about the concept of hydrogen pipelines. Indeed, more than 4,000 kilometers of pipelines are currently in operation. These pipelines, however, were (almost) all built in accordance with specific hydrogen codes, which tend to be much more restrictive in terms of material properties than their natural gas equivalents. This in turn means that the conversion of natural gas pipelines made from “standard” grades can be challenging.

This paper will investigate the role of material properties in terms of susceptibility to hydrogen damage as part of a Hydrogen Framework that includes characterizing the material properties of existing natural gas pipelines through ILI based on ROSEN’s Pipeline DNA process. It will describe the application of this framework to develop a “hydrogen-ready” pipeline in order to help enable the safe, economic and successful introduction of hydrogen into the natural gas network.

11:15 AM

Data Analytics for Tracking the Deterioration of Pipelines

Presenters: Matthew Capewell, Michael Smith (ROSEN Group), Co-author: Konstantinos Pesinis (ROSEN Group)

Condition metrics’ are single-valued metrics used to describe unique aspects of a pipeline’s condition. For corroded pipelines, we can define simple condition metrics such as anomaly density and probability of exceedance, and calculate their values using in-line inspection (ILI) data.

In previous work, the authors have shown how condition metrics can be used to represent pipeline condition in a multidimensional space – namely, the ‘condition space’. Individual pipelines populate this space, and their relative positions give rise to the notion of ‘good’ pipelines and ‘bad’ pipelines.

While a pipeline’s current position within the condition space is useful information (and can form the basis of integrity management decisions), an equally important consideration is its trajectory through the condition space over time. The present study explores how these trajectories can be predicted using corrosion nucleation rates and corrosion growth rates derived from repeat ILI datasets.

In particular, we demonstrate how the future trajectory of a target pipeline can be simulated by learning from similar pipelines with repeat ILI data. The concept is trialed using a pilot data warehouse containing historical ILI data for over 5,000 pipelines.

Navigation

Agenda

Virtual Pipeline Technology Conference (PTC) 2021

H2 READINESS ASSURANCE

INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT PLAN

TARGETED FIELD VERIFICATION

Data Management

Agenda

Advances in In-Field ILI Indication and Material Verification

A Population-Based Study on the Prevalence of Corrosion in Pipelines

Existing Pipeline Materials and the Transition to Hydrogen

Data Analytics for Tracking the Deterioration of Pipelines